When you create a dashboard, you don’t build and build and build some more and then, at the end of the process, see if it works. If you configure the dashboard to use existing data and add a Filtering panel, then panels in the dashboard work as you add panels and configure them.

Requirements for a dashboard

Requirements for a dashboard are:

Input panel(s) – You must add one or more input panels that let you specify which data the dashboard will display.

Filtering panel – You must add a filtering panel to ensure that the dashboard functions correctly.

Output panel(s) – You must add one or more output panels to display the data.

Steps for creating a dashboard

The steps for creating a dashboard are:

Choose the best starting point.

Configure dashboard settings.

Lay out the dashboard. A dashboard consists of rows and panels, and possibly columns (if you use Column panels).

Configure the panels as you add them. Below we present general tasks that apply to all panels and tasks that apply to specific types of panels.

Save the dashboard.

Test the dashboard.

1. Choose a starting point

Choose a starting point for your dashboard:

A blank dashboard – Build your dashboard from scratch.

An existing built-in dashboard – Leverage an existing dashboard and modify it to meet your needs.

To open the dashboard

From the Fusion workspace, click Analytics > Dashboards or System > Log Viewer.

In the upper right corner of the default dashboard, click the link for the dashboard you want to use as a starting point.

2. Configure dashboard settings

Configure dashboard settings, which affect all panels on a dashboard.

Choose where Fusion sends queries from a dashboard – Fusion can send queries to a Fusion query pipeline or to Solr. At the top right of the dashboard, click Configure dashboard. On the Solr tab, select Use Fusion to use a Fusion query pipeline. Deselect Use Fusion to send queries to Solr.

Choose a default collection to query – On the Solr tab, specify the name of the collection to query. Fusion queries this collection when the dashboard opens.

To use the same dashboard for multiple collections, let the dashboard user choose a collection. On the Controls tab, select Show Collections Picker.

Specify global query parameters to append to all dashboard queries (optional). On the Solrs tab, enter Global Query Parameters. For example, to set the default search field to the field message_t, specify the global query parameter &df=message_t.

Add a panel to a row that already has panels – Click Add a panel to this row . Click Add panel and select the Panel Type. Configure the panel, and then click Add Panel.

See that a row is full – On the left side of a row, the Row Full indicator shows you that the row is full.

Resize a panel Click Configure . On the General tab, choose a Span (width) between 1 (one twelfth) and 12 (twelve twelfths).

Drag a panel to a different location Click-and-hold the panel type (in the upper right corner of the panel), and drag the panel to an empty location or on top of a different panel (which moves out of the way).

Remove a panel – At the top right of the panel you want to remove, click Remove Panel .

Place panels in a column – A Column panel lets you lay out panels in a column.

Add text – A Text panel lets you add text to a dashboard, for example, for user instructions (how to use the dashboard to interact with data), descriptions of content (what am I seeing), etc.

4. Configure panels

Configure a panel – At the top right of the panel, click Configure . The primary tab for configuration is Panel. This is what the tabs let you do. Not all tabs are present for all panel types.

General – The name and width of the panel, whether it is editable, and whether the panel will let users inspect the queries.

Panel – The primary tab for configuring the panel. This configuration affects how data is displayed, but also in some cases, which data is displayed.

Info – Optionally, add a help message that Fusion displays when a user inspects the queries for a panel.

Fields – Add and remove fields in a Table panel.

Paging – Control pagination of a Table panel.

Queries – View the panel query. Optionally, add one or more custom Solr query parameters. Fusion adds these to the panel query.

For the Histogram and Range Facet panels, you can perform some configuration by clicking View . Click View to hide the configuration.

Display help for a setting – Hover over the Help icon.

Inspect a query – At the top right of a panel, click Inspect to inspect the query that a panel sends to Solr. Fusion displays both the panel query and the custom query (if any).

Make a panel not editable – Click Configure . On the General tab, deselect the Editable check box.

Make a panel editable – Remove the panel, and then add it back. Click Remove Panel , and then click Add panel to empty row or Add Panel to add the panel back.

5. Configure input panel settings

What goes into input panels determines what comes out on display panels. This determination has these parts:
– panel configuration, panel contributions to the query, and user interactions with the panels.

Add a custom query for a panel (optional; only possible for some panel types) – Some panels let you specify a a custom query to add to the panel query. The combined query is sent to the Fusion query pipeline or to Solr.

Filter – Filters select subsets of the data in a collection, for example, records in a time range or in which the field Gender has the value Female. A filtering panel is required for data interactivity to work. The filtering panel displays the filters that are in effect. You can also use a Filtering panel to add, remove, edit, and toggle filters.

Facet – A user can use a Facet panel to choose data in a specific facet of one or more facets. For example if the facets Gender and Graduation Year are defined, a user could choose the Gender Male and the Graduation Year 2010.

6. Configure specific types of panels

Add a query-entry field to a Query panel – Click Add Search Box .

Delete a search box from a Query panel – Hover over the search box you want to delete, and then click Delete .

Move a column in a table to the left – At the top of the column you want to move, click Move Column to Left .

Move a column in a table to the right – At the top of the column you want to move, click Move Column to Right .

7. Save a dashboard

Click Save Dashboard . You can save a dashboard to Solr, a file, or a GitHub gist. We recommend that you always save dashboards to Solr (even if you also save them as files or gists).

Save in Solr – Click Save Dashboard . Under Solr, enter a name for the dashboard, and then click . Ignore the Make Public checkbox.

Export to File – Click Save Dashboard > . Fusion downloads the dashboard as a file in the browser’s download directory. The filename is named dashboard\_name-large\_number, for example, Storefront-1502124761166. The file is a JSON file. It lacks the file type .json, which isn’t really needed (you could add it). If you want to place the file in a different location, move it.

Save as a GitHub gist – When you save a dashboard as a GitHub gist, you don’t need to log in to Github first. Fusion stores the gist as an anonymous gist.

To save a dashboard as a gist, the dashboard must be configured to allow that. Click Configure dashboard. On the Controls tab under Allow saving to, select Gist. At the top right of the dashboard, click Save. Under Gist, enter a name for the dashboard. The name becomes the title of the dashboard, which is stored in the JSON file as the value of "title". The filename is kibana-dashboard.json Then click the icon. Fusion displays the URL at which the gist resides. If you save the dashboard again, you get a different anonymous gist and a different URL. For example:

Important

Visit the URL immediately. Save the URL. Bookmark it. Write it down. You can’t find the gist by searching for it, and Gist identifiers don’t persist for long in the Fusion UI. (The last gist saved is available in the Load dialog for the duration of the browser session.)

8. Test the dashboard

Ensure that the dashboard displays the expected data when users use the dashboard. Adjust the panels present, their placement, and their configuration based on user feedback.